May 25th Rangers RoundupCallahan negotiations set to start, Jagr staying in KHL, Immonen won't be a Ranger either

- The latest reports regarding Jaromir Jagr are that he is
deep into contract negotiations with SKA
St. Petersburg of
the KHL and isn’t even considering an NHL return at the moment.Until he signs his name on a contract, the
possibility will remain that Jagr will come back to North
America.However, that was
a long-shot from the get-go, and the chances seem to be dwindling.At his age, Jagr would probably be wise to
keep playing on the bigger international ice surface where the chance of injury
is less.He wants to keep playing
hockey, and that’s the best way to prolong his career.

- The Fourth Period reports that the Rangers will soon begin
contract negotiations with alternate captain Ryan Callahan.No big surprise here and hopefully this deal
gets done quickly.Both sides want to
reach an agreement, so there’s no reason for this to get messy.It will be interesting to see how much Cally
gets though.That will impact the values
of the Rangers’ other restricted free agents and it will help determine how
much money they have to play with this summer.

- It sounds like the Rangers will begin their “preseason” next
fall against Frolunda, Henrik Lundqvist’s old team.Henrik’s brother, Joel, currently plays for
Frolounda, so obviously this matchup would have plenty of hype, at least for an
exhibition game.The game will likely be
played on September 30th.Lundqvist’s
homecoming tour will be a huge deal in Sweden, no doubt.

- There’s been no official announcement, but it sounds like
the salary cap will get bumped to somewhere between $60.5 million and $63.5
million for next season.That could have
some interesting implications for the next CBA and for player escrow payments, but
as far as the Rangers are concerned, the cap raise would be welcome news.Fitting Brad Richards under the higher cap ceiling
wouldn’t be much of a problem, and the Rangers should also easily be able to
retain their own free agents.They might
even be able to consider a second semi-significant signing.